The Promise of Communities where everyone has access to quiet trails, safe lanes and clean rivers for paddling seems great. If the Promise is realized, it will increase our quality of life in ways too great to measure. Maia Dery

“Write what you know.” Many writes receive that advice at some point during their career. If that means write about what your heart hold most dear, that compels and inspires you, the result will be something passionate, enlightening and beautiful. Adventure Guide to the Triangle by Maia Dery is something passionate, enlightening and beautiful.

Maia Dery grew up in Durham North Carolina. She graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel and earned a Master degree at Duke University.

For over a decade, she worked at Townsend, Bertram and Company (TB&C) in Carrboro North Carolina. Since 1988, TB&C provided the Triangle community with “The areas highest quality gear, apparel, and footwear for any adventure you can imagine.

While working at TB&C the idea of writing a compressive guide to the Triangle occurred to her. “Scores of customers came in asking for a comprehensive guide to outdoor recreation. I finally set about the task of researching and writing this guide.”

Maia Dery was an experienced cyclists, hiker and paddler prior to writing her Adventure Guide. However, she paddle every river, walked or mountain-biked every trail and cycled every bike route discussed in her book. It took years. In the process, she learned to appreciate her community in ways she never anticipated.

Adventure Guide in the Triangle covers all biking, bicycling and paddling opportunities in the Triangle area. Dery includes directions and line maps for locating the area, the difficulty ratings, and reviews of back roads and waterways.

Typically, the Triangle consists of Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Orange and Wake Counties. However, Dery included several other counties because trails and paddling routes continued into these areas.

The Guide is organized according to activity and then by geography or location. Hiking and biking trails are in one section and grouped together by county. Dery describes paddling trails in separate sections.

There are 13 lake and rivers. Dery admits that most of the descriptions owe their existence to the generosity of members of the paddling community. They helped he make sense of the rapids and rock gardens of the waterways.

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John Hall, is a freelance writer who writes articles, short stories, web content, and references books that provide students, librarians, and educators with authoritative, reliable resources supporting the curriculum across a wide variety of subjects. He has worked in academic, government, and private institutions. His areas of expertise include: Culture, Current Events, Ethnic Studies, Folklore/Mythology, Geography, Literature, Migration, Military History, Religion, Society/Family, United States History, and World History. Contact John at jhall81088@msn.com